Use automation to create knowledge article IDs

Establish a naming convention for your knowledge articles.

Where the software allows for it, configure your knowledge article IDs to be automatically generated based on the style, content or classification of the article. Don't leave article ID generation up to guess work. When articles IDs are clear and follow a well-defined naming convention, they become easier to search, manage and report on.

Link to other content

Once a knowledge article has been created, improve the value of its content by linking it to other sources of information and knowledge content.

Link knowledge articles to

External documents, graphics, video, sound etc

Other knowledge articles

Websites, URLs,

Existing incidents, problems

Assets / configuration items

Customers and Clients

Publish knowledge articles to web self-service portals

Link articles to web self-service portals for your clients and customers. Once an article has been written and approved, allow your clients and customers using your web portal to search for, and browse your content.

Link knowledge articles to ticket creation process, so that clients can read and solve their issues before even logging a new ticket, or contacting the help desk again.

Be proactive with your knowledge - help your clients to help themselves!

Link knowledge articles to incidents

If a knowledge articles is relevant to an incident, or problem that has already been logged in your system, link to it. This will add weight to the relevance of the knowledge article, as well as improve search-ability and preserve it historical usage and relevance.

Where possible, endevour to link multiple articles to other content when appropriate. Furthermore, classify the nature of the relationship, or link.

For example. Several knowledge base articles may be linked to the same incident. The relationship metadata for the link may include:

Resolving article

Referring article

Further information article

When the relationship of the link is captured, it gives further meaning to both the article and the entity that is being linked to. This improves search-ability, reporting and statistics.

Capture search history and relevance

Whenever someone searches for a knowledge article, the words they use to search play an important part in building feedback and increasing the effectiveness for future searches. In order to create and author articles using terms "in their own words", you first need to know what these are. Capture all search criteria and then cross-link this to the knowledge base articles that are presented to the user. Survey the user to ask them whether what was presented was helpful or not.

Link multiple articles and classify the relationship

Search terms should be captured to understand how client are phrasing their search queries. Knowledge articles that are returned in the search results can be ranked according to how effectively they match the users expectations for their search. System administrators can gain a keen insight into the searching behaviours and mindset of clients looking for information. Articles can evolve over time to be better suited for particular search terms and relevancy.

Get the statistics on knowledge use

Effective knowledge centered support relies on a solid statistical foundation. Get the statistics on knowledge base usages, feedback, ratings, historical relevance and search-ability. Track the performance of individual knowledge base articles, or look at an overall-aggregated view of your entire knowledge stack. Regular examination of knowledge base usage and statistics will help you to keep the evolution of your corporate knowledge alive and well.

Knowledge article ratings and feedback

Feedback is an important part of the double-loop process. Knowledge content and article will continue to evolve over time based on the feedback and comments that come from both staff and clients. Allow everyone to provide feedback on knowledge article. Keep the feedback short, simple and relevant. Regularly monitor this feedback and build automation around this to ensure that each and every knowledge base article continues to improve with each iteration.

Knowledge article feedback and comments

Capture both ratings, as well as user feedback. Use this feedback to improve and refine articles for re-use. Feedback should be gathered about the date, the user (or anonymous), the rating, as well as any free-text comment the reviewer may have. All of these different aspects of feedback will improve article iteration.